


take this as a sign

by achillese



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Fluff and Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-29
Updated: 2014-09-29
Packaged: 2018-02-19 07:13:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2379509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/achillese/pseuds/achillese
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Adam just wants to drink his coffee and do his homework in peace, but gets distracted by two things: A) his favorite coffee shop being crowded with college tour attendees, and B) the really attractive TA sitting at his favorite table.</p>
            </blockquote>





	take this as a sign

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Midam Week 2014. The prompt word was "awkward."

It _would_ be Adam’s luck that his favorite coffee shop was packed to near fire capacity the morning he had an essay to finish for his afternoon class. He’d wanted to just buy his usual drink (white mocha, damn his sweet tooth) and settle down in his usual corner table to go through his usual routine of doing last-minute work, but he had a hard enough time pushing through the throng of people just standing in the way of the front counter. 

“What the hell is going on?” Adam hissed as he leaned over the counter so the barista could hear him better. “It hasn’t been this crowded since one of the freshman dorms lost power a year ago and they all started camping out in here.”

The barista – Kevin Tran, who also happened to be one of Adam’s best friends – gave him a pitying look. “College tours, man. Everyone’s here with their parents.”

“Damnit.” Adam’s eyes traveled over to his favorite corner table and a storm cloud seemed to form over his head when he saw that someone was sitting in it. “One of these high school assholes took my spot.”

Kevin paused from making Adam’s drink and peered over the top of the coffee machine to take a look. “Oh, him. He’s not here for a tour, he’s a TA here.”

Adam blinked and took a second look. He’d mistaken the broad-shouldered man for a parent, or maybe an older sibling, and in Adam’s defense, the man’s back _was_ turned to him, so all he could see was a head of dark hair and the black Henley he was wearing. The guy sure as hell didn’t _dress_ like a TA; all of Adam’s TA’s wore vests and cardigans and button-up shirts and for the most part looked like their mothers still picked out their clothes. 

Kevin handed Adam’s fresh mocha to him and Adam slipped him a five-dollar bill, motioning to keep the change.

“You can still sit at your table, y’know,” Kevin reminded him as he opened up the cash register. “It’s built for two people, and it doesn’t look like anyone’s spotted the second chair there yet.”

That was how Adam found himself squeezing between the second, unoccupied chair and the wall, looking down at the tiny coffee table where the guy’s laptop and papers were already covering two-thirds of the space. 

Adam cleared his throat. “Uh, hi. Sorry. D’you mind? There’s no other seats left.”

The man looked up at Adam through his thick-rimmed glasses ( _hipster glasses_ , Adam thought in amusement) before turning and surveying the rest of the coffee shop. “Uh, no, I guess not.” The man paused for a second before realizing just how much of his crap was on the table. “Sorry, I can clear some of this up—”

Before Adam knew it the laptop was gone and one half of the space was relinquished to him. He put his coffee down and slid into the seat, awkwardly trying to prevent his legs from knocking into the table and spilling the guy’s papers everywhere. Normally he’d have his own work spread out but seeing as they were already fucked for space, he decided to just take out his laptop and perch it precariously close to the edge of the table, keeping it away from the guy’s work. 

When Adam opened his laptop, the guy’s eyes flicked up in his direction before landing on some of the stickers that covered his laptop case. “Taking Back Sunday?” the guy asked, pointing at the logo sticker prominently placed in the top right corner. 

Adam blinked, surprised for a second, and nodded. “Yeah. They’re a ba—”

“I know who they are. I don’t look _that_ old, do I?” the guy asked, huffing a small laugh. 

Adam felt his face burning up and prayed to every god available that he wasn’t actually turning pink. “No, sorry, that’s not what I meant.” Then again, Adam had no idea what he’d meant, so he tried to steer clear of digging a deeper hole. “So you’re a TA?”

The man nodded. “How’d you know?”

“Barista ratted you out.”

The man turned to look at Kevin behind the counter and grinned. “That’s Kevin Tran, right? Good student. Really good, actually. He was in my 9AM section last semester.”

“What class was it?”

“Renaissance magic and mythology.”

Adam held his hands up in a show of surrender. “Not even remotely in my area of interest, sorry. I’m a bio major.”

The guy grinned just before one of the visiting high school students knocked into their table from an unprotected side, nearly tipping Adam’s coffee to the floor. He grabbed it just in time and glared at the offending teenager, who didn’t seem at all to notice that he’d nearly caused a catastrophic incident. 

“I hate college tours,” Adam mumbled, just loud enough for maybe one of the groups of parents to hear, but only the TA across from him chuckled. 

“I’m sure the college kids who saw you during your tours thought the same thing,” the guy said with a small smile.

Adam tried hard not to roll his eyes. “Except I made it a point not to be obnoxious and loud.”

The TA chuckled. “If you say so.”

Adam watched as the guy went back to reading over his papers, and he resisted the urge not to strike up another conversation. Clearly the guy was trying to work – probably grading papers – and the last thing he needed was some asshole student distracting him with dumb small talk. 

That just left Adam with staring and marking off mentally just how goddamn attractive this TA was, with his dark romance-novel-hero hair and glasses and bright green eyes and obviously defined muscles that were moving under his shirt. It was unfair. Like, cosmically unfair. Even if Adam wanted to be so bold as to slip the guy his number, it would be ten flavors of illegal – at least by the school’s handbook, which counted TA/student relationships as sexual harassment. 

Damnit. 

They both worked in an awkward silence for the next half hour before the TA started packing his things up.

“Got a class across campus in twenty,” he said. “Good luck on whatever it is you’re working on.”

“Yeah, uh, you too,” Adam said with a small wave. The TA smiled and pushed his way through the still-crowded shop to the exit. 

It wasn’t until Adam looked back down at the table that he saw the guy had left a folded up scrap of paper behind. 

There was a cell number and a note:

_In case you ever wanna talk and change your mind about Renaissance mythology. – Michael N._

What a goddamn nerd.

...

Adam was so into it.


End file.
